Amberwood Press, Inc. ~ New York
(Nava Atlas)

My Mother's Stories, Served with Bagels and Locks
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2022. Edition of 40.

8.5"w X 11" h X 1/2"d,; 22 pages. Digital offset with flip-out covers. Wire-o binding. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Nava Atlas: "Sometime after my mother's death in 2003, I found a small notebook in which she related brief vignettes of migrating in 1930, from the small town in Poland where she grew up, to Palestine. How and why a seventeen-year-old left her large, loving Jewish family, accompanied only by a friend, is still a story for the ages. Next, she told of her emigration in 1956 (now as a wife and mother of three) from what had become Israel, a place she loved, to join her three surviving sisters in Detroit.

“In 2005, I created the triptych ‘My Mother's Stories, Served with Bagels and Locks’ using plates, clay ‘bagels,’ and hardware locks. On the plates and in the background, snippets of my mother's notebook are enlarged, hinting at but not quite revealing the full meaning of the pages. With many of her immediate family members having been murdered in Treblinka during the holocaust, the locks signify the secrets and painful memories inherent in survivor's guilt.

“Fast (or not so fast) forward to 2021, when I once again came across my mother's notebook among my possessions. During the pandemic, it somehow felt more urgent to consider where we've come from and those we've lost. With migration, refugee populations, and antisemitism still very much a part of today's social landscape, I felt compelled to preserve my mother's story in a more complete way.

“Though she doesn't provide a lot of detail, and her English (her fourth language) isn't fluent, the brief vignettes of her journeys provide context for the original ‘Bagels and Locks’ piece. The result is a limited-edition artist's book and a suite of twenty-four small archival prints completed in 2022. Though this project provides a glimpse of just one Jewish migrant's life, it speaks to the universal experiences of loss shared by those who move across oceans, and the struggle to regain a sense of belonging in new lands."
$120

History of American White Women
Commemorative Stamps
1900 – 1970
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2018. Edition of 100.

8.5 x 11"; 32 pages. Digital laser printed. Wire-o binding. Signed and numbered by the artist. Deluxe edition: bound in cloth covered boards with illustration tipped on front board.

Nava Atlas: "History of American White Women Commemorative Stamps 1900 - 1970 is a slice of the representation of women in media in the twentieth century. Women's bodies, clothing, and roles as filtered through print bring up questions of how much media is responsible for creating tropes and stereotypes, and how much it merely reflects.

"This question is particularly vexing viewed through the juxtapositions in this limited edition book - for example, in the 1950s, thousands of pulp novels portrayed women as gun-and knife-wielding murderous seductresses, while at the same time, magazines pushed the image of happy housewives cooking, cleaning, and raising the kids.

"Because women of color were rarely represented in mass media in the years defined in these faux 'stamps,' if at all, when they were, it was within a narrow range of stereotypes. That is a subject for another day, and for a different artist to address!"
$85 standard version
$170 deluxe version

Why You Can't Get Married
An unwedding album
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, 2013.
Edition of 300 standard, 25 deluxe.

Standard: 14 x 9.5"; 10 gatefold pages. Laser offset. Bound in full-page wraps with double wire-o binding. Historic images of interracial couples appropriated from internet sources. Images of same-sex couples licensed from stock photo sources. Texts excerpted from court documents, state codes, and public political pronouncements. Signed by the artist.

Deluxe: 14.5 x 9.9" album cover containing the standard edition of Why You Can't Get Married. This standard edition has 10 gatefold pages and double wire-o binding. Back page of standard edition adhered to back album cover. Album covers illustrated with mock wedding invitations. Drop spine and frame (of covers) covered in off-white fabric (like a wedding album). Colophon on back cover. Signed and numbered on the colophon by the artist.

Nava Atlas: "Why You Can't Get Married: An Unwedding Album examines the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage through the lens of the past. The very arguments used to oppose interracial marriage in generations past have been recycled for use against same-sex marriage. Comparing state codes, legal opinions, public hearings, and political pronouncements, it becomes apparent that the arguments aren't just similar, but nearly identical. The book ends with a ray of hope, presenting Mildred Loving's statement on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Supreme Court decision, Loving vs. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage in all fifty states. She stated in part, 'I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sexual orientation, should have [the] freedom to marry.'

"An up-to-the-moment pairing on the back cover compares the dissenting opinion from the 1948 case that struck down the California Miscegenation Law, with Antonin Scalia's dissenting opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2013 decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. The Unwedding Album's prettiness stands in stark contrast to the ugliness of the language of bias framed within, a stark reminder that there's still a way to go to before marriage equality is achieved in the U.S."
$125 Standard
$300 Deluxe (Last 2 copies)

Postal Angst
An Album of Sticky Dilemmas
By Nava Atlas

New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, 2012.
Edition of 5.

9.5 x 11.75"; 10 pages. Accordion structure from back pastedown. Pigmented inkjet prints on rag paper. Comprised of constructed stamps, meant to resemble a stamp album. Bound in red portfolio with black tie closure. Title tipped on.

Nava Atlas: "Postal Angst is an artist’s book comprised of constructed stamps, meant to resemble a stamp album. I’ve always loved the visual iconography of postage stamps, which to me, speak of connection, communication, travel, and adventure.

"I’ve long used my visual art as a form of therapy. When longing, regret, remorse, and other metal dross are expelled from my brain in the form of long-cherished imagery (like these faux postage stamps), my 'problems' are quickly put into perspective, melancholy is swept away, and I’m able to laugh with (and at) myself. As an occasional indulgence, creating occasional work about the self is both cathartic and comforting."
$475

Dear Literary Ladies
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2010. Edition of 15.

12 x 9.75"; 30 pages. Printed digitally in various fonts from the Quadrant family and the script font Affable Black. Constructed with both actual and virtual ephemera. Color photocopy and archival pigment ink on rag paper. Bound in cloth with tipped on illustrations. Three metal screw posts at spine.

Nava Atlas: "Dear Literary Ladies is one component of a series of interrelated, multidisciplinary works. This artist's book is a companion to the blog of the same name both of which fancifully pose questions on writing and the writing life, with the answer derived from a classic author's own words. The narratives in this limited edition book are gathered from the letters, journals, and autobiographies of fourteen authors including Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Sand, Willa Cather, Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edith Wharton, and others [Sarah Orne Jewett, Colette, L. M. Montgomery, Virginia Woolf, Edna Ferber, Zora Neale Hurston, and Anaïs Nin]. Reaching back to answer contemporary questions with voices from literary history reflects the timeless concerns of writers, with a particular emphasis on these issues from a female perspective.

$450 ( Last 2 copies; includes a copy of the trade edition)

Love and Marriage
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2008. Edition of 100.

7 x 10.5"; 32 pages. Digital offset printing. Saddle-stitched.

Nava Atlas: "Love and Marriage is an altered comic book utilizing art from the 1950s. The original dialog has been removed, replaced by dry deadpan banter, between male and female characters on the mythology of modern marriage, supermoms, media’s obsession with domesticity, over the-top weddings, and monogamy. Interspersed are ads from the era, whose absurdity is left intact, in their original, unaltered state."

The comic books that supplied the art are credited on the inside of the back cover.
$75 (Last 6 copies)

Any Man Gets Tired of Toast All the Time:
Advice on Baking and Marriage 1947 / 2007
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2007. Edition of 3.

15 x 8" closed, extends to 33"; 11 double-page openings. Concertina binding. Archival inkjet printed on rag paper. Fabric covers of oven mitts. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Includes 6 archival enlargements from the interior. Each is 11 x 14" and mounted on 13 x 16" museum board (unframed). Each signed by the artist.

Nava Atlas: "This oven mitt-shaped book juxtaposes images of a vintage cookbook with snippets of contemporary advice columns to examine the roles that women are continually grappling with. Iconic imagery and text from the 1940s and 50s makes it clear that women have come a long way, yet the newspaper advice columns are a reminder of how easy it is to fall into accommodating, traditional feminine roles."

Amberwood Press: "The sweet treats, complete with original text are from Davis Master Pattern Baking Recipes, published in the 1940s. The advice column snippets are from Annie's Mailbox and The Advice Goddess, printed in family newspapers everywhere in 2007."
( Out of Print)

Hand Jobs
By Nava Atlas
New Platz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2008. Edition of 5.

11.75 x 9 x 1.25" archival portfolio box; 13 loose archival inkjet-printed pages. Collage elements.

Nava Atlas: "In the 1940s and 1950s, women's magazines featured beautifully manicured and graceful hands doing mostly domestic chores, and in some cases, shopping. Though today's most popular women's magazines rarely, if ever, feature 'hand models,' I wondered whether they imply that women's hands should still do the same things as they did sixty years ago. Or, do these publications somehow convey a broader idea of what work women might do with their hands — brain surgery, technology, sculpture, etc.? I looked at early 2008 issues of Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Woman's Day, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Quilting, and Family Circle. I didn't even need to consult the ads, because now, many articles are 'advertorials,' rolling content and advertising into numerous short, mind-numbing chunks. Alas, according to the bland, white world of women's print media, the main purpose of your hands is still to cook, clean, polish, wash, do needlework, and shop. It's demoralizing, yet not completely surprising, that advertisers, and by extension, women's media, still prefer to mire women in domestic details, as that is the venue in which most products can be sold. "
(SOLD)

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Hand Jobs [Portfolio]
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2008/2018.
One-of-a-kind.

12 loose archival inkjet-prints contained in 16.5 x 13.5 x 1.5" cloth-covered box with magnetic closure and 6.75" title illustration mounted on top cover. Prints mounted on 12 x 16" museum board. Additional print mounted on interior of box lid. Signed and dated by the artist.

"Hand Jobs" was originally produced in an edition of 5 with a pair of gloves attached the lid. This larger one-of-a-kind was produced for exhibition purposes.

Nava Atlas: "In the 1940s and 1950s, women's magazines featured beautifully manicured and graceful hands doing mostly domestic chores, and in some cases, shopping. Though today's most popular women's magazines rarely, if ever, feature 'hand models,' I wondered whether they imply that women's hands should still do the same things as they did sixty years ago. Or, do these publications somehow convey a broader idea of what work women might do with their hands — brain surgery, technology, sculpture, etc.? I looked at early 2008 issues of Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Woman's Day, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Quilting, and Family Circle. I didn't even need to consult the ads, because now, many articles are 'advertorials,' rolling content and advertising into numerous short, mind-numbing chunks. Alas, according to the bland, white world of women's print media, the main purpose of your hands is still to cook, clean, polish, wash, do needlework, and shop. It's demoralizing, yet not completely surprising, that advertisers, and by extension, women's media, still prefer to mire women in domestic details, as that is the venue in which most products can be sold. "
(SOLD)

(Mis)labeling Hillary
or, why she just couldn't win
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2008. Edition of 10.

7.75 x 11.25"; 10 pages. Accordion structure with archival inkjet print. Bound in blue cloth with full page illustrated front cover.

Nava Atlas: "(Mis)labeling Hillary continues a series of works that explores language pertaining to female stereotyping. In this artist's book, images of Hillary Clinton appropriated from news articles are teamed with brief comments attributed to a variety of news sources, from blogs to mainstream newspapers and magazines. Each quote contains a common female epithet that has been applied to Hillary, from the relatively benign hag, battle-ax, and ice queen, building up to the ultimate bitch, whore, cunt. From my perspective, this book poses two questions: Why do media (both mainstream and underground) feel justified in getting so personal, going so far beyond issues and even personality when it comes to writing about Hillary? And how can any woman, flaws and all, ever crack what she termed the 'highest glass ceiling' when the most degrading feminine epithets are still so casually tossed off? It seems that whoever said that sexism trumps racism was correct in this instance. I'm outraged, even though I ended up voting for Barack Obama . . ."
(SOLD)

Sluts & Studs
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2007. Edition of 5.

6.5 x 14"; 20 pages. Flag structure. Illustrated paper-covered boards with quarter book cloth. Archival inkjet-printed pages.

Nava Atlas: "Sluts & Studs looks at the language of sexuality, and the contrasts between the female and male terminology via dictionary definitions. Most of the terms for men who are sexually prolific are most often either positive, or at worst, imply a certain naughtiness, while the terms for women are uniformly negative, signifying promiscuity, lack of morality, and prostitution. While this may not be exactly surprising seeing these terms in the context of iconic 1950s style imagery is a gentle yet jarring reminder that despite the so called 'sexual revolution' the language of sexuality has not much changed, and is still largely a throwback to attitudes of the past."
(SOLD)

Tomcats & Trollops
By Nava Atlas
New Paltz, New York: Amberwood Press, Inc., 2007. Edition of 5.

6.5 x 14"; 19 pages. Flag structure. Illustrated paper-covered boards with quarter cloth. Archival inkjet-printed pages.

Nava Atlas: "This book is a variation on Sluts & Studs, with the vintage images showing amorous couples instead of the single male/female images of the previous book, but using the same language and dictionary definitions. This makes the question all the more poignant; if each half of the couple is enjoying their pairing, why, then, is the language applied to them different?"
(SOLD)